Nailsea School par excellence, says new report

NAILSEA School is top quality when is comes to teaching, learning and leadership, says a glowing new report.

Alliance for Lifelong Learning used a Quality Mark moderator to carry out an assessment of the 1,300-place comprehensive at Mizzymead Road.

And it pasted with flying colours.

Ian Gyllenspetz, in awarding the QM, said:  “This school is very successful in supporting the development of literacy, numeracy and Information and Communications Technology.”

Head teacher David New said: “To achieve our best ever exam results, gain national recognition for the design and effectiveness of the new building and a Quality Mark that says our teaching and learning is among the best in the country, shows that we have achieved everything we set out to, and to a nationally recognised standard of excellence”

His deputy head teacher Gill Kelly said: “To hear a former Ofsted inspector say ‘this is what education should be like for all children in the country’ is the highest accolade any school could receive.”

The Quality Mark was launched in July 2002, by the Department for Education and Skills and Recruitment to help drive up standards and it was first awarded to Nailsea School in 2006.

The strengths of the school are complimented throughout the report including:

·     Governors ‘rigorous... critical friends’;

·     Staff, who have a ‘can do but realistic approach to students’;

·     Students ‘a credit to their school, they love this place’;  

·     Leadership ‘innovative in ensuring that the school vision focuses on the quality of learning and that it is clearly visible in the actions of staff and students’;

·     Academic success ‘significantly increased their success in examinations’;

·     Pastoral support ‘students are well supported emotionally’;

·     Relationships ‘good relationships were seen between students and between staff and students throughout the visit’; and

·     Communication ‘parents are kept well informed and shown ways in which they can support their children’.

Mr New comes in for particular praise for his ‘vision and leadership’.

He masterminded the innovations for the design of the new £32 million school which the report says ‘aids student interaction, shows learning as something to be shared and nurtured and provides space and facilities that support the vision’. 

Mr Gyllenspetz added: “The really good thing is the school will continue to grow and develop because the vision for learning will not let it stand still. 

“It is there to be enjoyed and be proud of, and everyone is.”

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